SAVRAA Task Force Meeting

3/11/15

In Attendance:

Kelley Dillon

Cortney Fisher

Laurel Wemhoff

Nikki Charles

Commander Kucik

Michelle Palmer

Elisabeth Olds

Heather DeVore

Captain Alder

Barbra Chikowore

Jen Schweer

Jenn Pollitt Hill

Christine Funk

Elisabeth Olds

Absent:

Amy Loudermilk

Sherelle Hessell-Gordon

Michelle Booth Cole

Tonya Turner

Nelly Montenegro

Summary

Member Attendance Policy and Open Meetings

The Task Force discussed task force participation and the need for an attendance policy to discourage multiple absences. Those present voted unanimously in favor of the following policy:

Due to the important tasks at hand and the need for active participation and input from all members, for the remainder of the Task Force meetings (April 15th, May 13th, June 10th, July 8th, August 12th and September 9th) a member may miss no more than two meetings. If more than two meetings are missed,that organization’s representation on the task force will be transferred to another agency or organization.

Additionally, the Task Force agreed to the following changes in order to facilitate greater transparency and public engagement in the process:

1)The Task Force will hold quarterly open meetings that the public may attend. The quarterly meeting dates are May 13th and August 12th. OVS will post to the OVS website the agendas for upcoming SAVRAA Task Force meetings prior to each meeting and will also post the minutes and deliverables of Task Force meetings to the OVS website following each meeting (

2)Prior to the release of the final Task Force Report, the Task Force will release its proposed recommendations for public review and comment and consider such comment in the finalization of the report.

Service Population Survey

In order to better evaluate the composition and needs of the District’s sexual assault service population, Elisabeth Olds (SAVRAA Independent Expert Consultant) has proposed that a survey be developed by researchers and be distributed by service providers and other stakeholders to members of the sexual assault survivor community.

Issues to think about involving the survey:

  • What population should the survey capture?
  • How can the survey avoiddefining who a “survivor” is in order to allow survivors to self-define?
  • How can survey collection on campuses avoid issues presented because of mandated reporters?
  • What makes the most sense as a distribution method?

Discussion of Complaint Process Summary

Cortney Fisher distributed the compilation of the Task Force’s complaint process discussion and research. Issues that still need to be answered are on the document in red.

Issues:

  • Collective bargaining agreements may impede the any complaint process investigation.
  • Task Force recommendations must balance conflicting factors and recommend a complaint process that is actually doable.
  • Complaints about a system vs. complaints about a person – Complaints about a system can be made public, complaints against a person in the system could not be published to the website, would need to be handled by their employer in accordance with their internal complaint process
  • If a complaint is made to an entity about one of their employees, it may be internally processed and resolved without any outside reporting.
  • Complaint process could take the form of a Feedback Survey rather than exclusively requesting complaints. This would identify areas where greater training is needed in situations where a survivor isnot necessarily “complaining” but where service providers can identify a need.
  • Complaints/Feedback could be posted to a website along with the resolution.
  • Considering the wide variety of types of complaints, should there be a threshold for what to post to the website? It may make sense to include ALL complaints.
  • Once an entity has addressed a complaint against their organization it would go back to the SART and would be posted to the website with the complaint and the resolution.
  • The SART is best equipped to handle the complaint process
  • Feedback/Complaint forms could also be added to the ASK App so that all survivors have access to the process
  • Would it be feasible for the Complaint website to be live within 30 days of being funded?

City Paper Article

The SAVRAA Task Force discussed the recent City Paper Article “Call and Response”

The article states “The task force has been meeting behind closed doors and keeping its records sealed, which raised concerns among activists.”

The Task Force discussed the factual inaccuracy of this statement and whether or not to reach out to the author with a correction. No documents were ever requested of the Task Force nor are there any sealed documents. The author did not seek comment from OVS or any member of the Task Force prior to publishing this article. The Task Force decided this is something that can be addressed in the May quarterly open meeting.

Next Meeting April 15th, 1:00 PM

Location TBD